Deadly Rain in Brampton

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

From today’s Toronto Star :

Emmanuel Samoglou Staff Reporter

Intense rain and terrible driving conditions appeared to be a factor in a fatal traffic accident on the streets of Brampton, Tuesday night.

The single-vehicle accident occurred around 9:30 p.m., near the intersection of Steeles Ave. E. and Finch Ave. W., just south of Hwy. 407, police said.

Police said the vehicle slammed into a guardrail in slippery conditions, causing the sole occupant to become trapped inside.

The victim, who has been identified as a male by police, appeared to have no vital signs when authorities arrived on the scene.

Const. George Tudos of Peel police said the Major Collisions Bureau will be investigating what caused the vehicle to lose control, but he indicated that Tuesday night’s harsh weather may have played a role.

“I’m sure the roads have had a contributing factor,” Tudos said.

I have included the article in full because I couldn’t work out which bits to chop out as NOT being worthy of comment.

This is reported as a single-vehicle accident; we already know that there are no accidents on our roads, only collisions .

Notice that a single vehicle with a single occupant slams into a guardrail. No other parties are mentioned and the car does not have a brain.

Note too that Tudos is investigating “what caused the vehicle to lose control”. I can’t see how something can lose something it has never had. Vehicles are NOT in control; they DON’T have control. Human beings have control (or are supposed to).

We are told that “Intense rain and terrible driving conditions”, but we were also warned 24 hours in advance that a big storm was coming up the Ohio Valley, and in any case whatsoever, “Intense rain“ is heavy, highly visible rainfall. What don’t humans understand about sheets of water coming down?

“I’m sure the roads have had a contributing factor,” Tudos said.

I’m equally sure that they haven’t.

Once again please consider the thousands of acres of wet roads across this province alone. Not one square inch of that surface can cause a collision. It is inert bitumen (or concrete paving).

Amazingly it lies there, year after year, getting drenched, frozen etc.

But suddenly once a vehicle arrives on the scene, the road or the rain turn malevolent.

Surprisingly the vehicle itself appears to be quite content to sit for days, months on end in a driveway or a parking lot, but once a human being gets behind the wheel the vehicle becomes malevolent.

Or maybe the problem lies with humans.

Not with vehicles.

Not with downpours

Not with roads.

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